History and culture

It is a hub for regional and intercity trains towards Pescara, only 7-10 minutes away, Ancona, Bologna and Southern Italy, with frequent connections and easy access to the seafront, just a few steps away.

A modern and functional facility with ticket office, waiting room, parking areas and bus stops very close by. It is ideal for convenient arrivals and departures for holidaymakers who want to combine sea and train.

Inside, visitors can discover detailed model railway layouts, educational material and interactive sections. It is the third railway museum on the Adriatic coast after Trieste and Lecce, perfect for diving into the history of trains in Abruzzo and Italy. Admission is free.

Opening times and info: Open every Sunday from 10:30 to 12:00 with free admission. Visits on request for groups and schools.

It features a neoclassical style with influences from the Fascist period: a tripartite façade in simple masonry, enlivened by panels and pilasters, a central portal framed by dentilled mouldings, a late-rationalist bell tower and a classic rectangular plan with late-Baroque echoes.

Its interior is sober yet welcoming, with period decorative elements and a peaceful atmosphere. Located in a central position near the seafront and city services, it is an important landmark for the whole community. Ideal for those looking for a glimpse into local religious history, a peaceful pause or simply the chance to admire an iconic building of twentieth-century Abruzzo.

In 1226, with the arrival of the Carmelite fathers, it took on the dedication it still bears today and became the spiritual reference point for the rural settlement that developed around the convent complex.

“Villa Carmine” in fact means “agricultural centre around the Carmine convent”. Inside, beneath the last arch to the right of the altar, an inscription dated 1468 refers to an apparition of the Virgin Mary. As there are no other records of this event, rather than a miracle it may refer to the arrival of the image of the Black Madonna displayed behind the altar, which could be contemporary with the inscription.

The holy-water stoup is particularly unusual: it has no stylistic comparison in the area and seems to refer to medieval models from Central Italy. It shows a priest sprinkling holy water with a reed branch, as was once customary.

The columns dividing the church into three naves appear to emerge only partially from the recent flooring, suggesting that landslides from the hill above and floods in the valley may have buried the original walking level.

The first written records of the settlement date back to the 12th century, but its origins are much older, probably reaching back to the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC), and it was inhabited continuously during the Italic and Roman periods. In the Middle Ages, Montesilvano Colle, fortified with walls and a now-lost castle, formed part of a defensive network controlling the Saline River valley.

The village still preserves its typical medieval layout, with brick houses overlooking narrow streets and stretches of the ancient walls still visible around it.

Once a strategic centre for controlling the coast, today it is an ideal place to discover the history, art and splendid landscape of much of Abruzzo, with broad panoramic views over both the sea and the highest mountain ranges of the Apennines.

The palace has a sober neoclassical façade, marked by simple, harmonious and balanced lines. The entrance portal in local stone is topped by a central balcony, typical of aristocratic residences of the period. The interiors, once enriched by elegant furnishings and late eighteenth-century decorations, still preserve traces of their original refinement.

Beyond its architectural value, Palazzo Delfico is an important historical landmark for Montesilvano: a witness to the civil and cultural life of the town in past centuries, it now helps enhance the historic centre as a place of identity and collective memory.

The church, once attached to a Franciscan convent, was founded in the 1220s after a passage of Saint Francis of Assisi. Landslides and collapses meant that of the original three naves only the central one survived to the present day. It contains several fragments of frescoes painted over a period ranging from the 13th to the 19th century.

In the space leading to the sacristy, to the right of the altar, there are two early twentieth-century papier-mâché statues from Lecce depicting the Dead Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows, still used today during the Good Friday procession.

It is a dry hill relief with sparse vegetation, and precisely for this reason it offers open, endless views over the sea and the coast. Crowned by a large cross visible from afar, a reminder of a past religious event, a failed miracle in 1992 that attracted huge crowds up there, it can be reached by paths and secondary roads.

Inside the single-nave church, on the right, there is a fine polychrome wooden statue of the Madonna del Latte enthroned with Child, from the Umbrian-Tuscan school and dating to the Renaissance, originally located in the Church of Madonna della Neve. Beside the altar, again on the right, stands a nineteenth-century wooden statue of the Archangel Michael, patron of the church, armed with a sword as leader of the heavenly armies and holding scales in his left hand, recalling his role as weigher of the souls of the dead.